My square is in the lower right hand corner, two spaces below the “N” in “chosen.” The one with stripes of yellow, pearl grey, and black-and-white checks. It was inspired by the classic sleeve for Ze Records disco 12-inches, and is dedicated to the memory of my friend Robert Penland and all the other groovy queens I lost to AIDS in my early adulthood.

Images from “Era Messages” at Portland’s Museum of Contemporary Craft, curated by Garth Johnson from Extreme Craft. When Garth first told me about this exhibit, “works from the 1960s through 1990s that exemplify the moments in which they were made,” I imagined something more obviously “kitsch,” lots of macrame owls and upscale shop projects. Instead of a craft lady garage sale, the selection he arrayed actually walked a much finer line, although there were definitely some groan-inducers (such as my personal favorite, the wall of new wave glass nachos seen in photo #1).

It doesn’t appear that Garth’s essay on the exhibit is up online yet, but his lecture “Waste of Timelessness: Craft in the Present Tense” is streaming here.

Since folks seemed to like seeing my finished Talking Heads Remain In Light needlepoint last week, I thought I’d post another in the series (there are five total so far), Another Green World by frequent David Byrne/Talking Heads collaborator Brian Eno. Thinking about doing the Germs’ (GI) as an oversize latch hook rug next.

Well, I had to do something after we finished Christmas dinner…